Formulation and Dissolution enhancement of Meloxicam tablets using Polyvinyl caprolactam-polyvinyl acetate-polyethylene glycol graft copolymer and Povidone in combination.

Meloxicam is a poor water soluble drug mostly prescribed in various rheumatic diseases. The present research study was design to formulate and increase the solubility of meloxicam in the tablet dosage form. A 32 full factorial design was employed to optimize meloxicam formulations. Polyvinyl caprolactam-polyvinyl acetate-polyethylene glycol graft copolymer (PVCL-PVA-PEG graft copolymer) and Povidone were taken as independent variables while cumulative drug release at 90 minutes was selected as dependent variable. All trial formulations complied with official standards. Multiple regression by Microsoft Excel on cumulative drug release of the selected formulations (F1, F2, F6- F9) showed the positive effect of PVCL-PVA-PEG graft copolymer (α = 0.05) and a negative effect of Povidone (α = 0.05). Formulation six (F6) (PVCL-PVA-PEG graft copolymer 3 mg and Povidone 22.5 mg / tablet) was considered as the optimal formulation based on its cumulative drug release. Dissolution kinetics by model dependent analysis predicted Weibull (R2=0.99) as the best fit model in describing meloxicam dissolution kinetics. The role of PVCL-PVA-PEG graft copolymer should be explored with other solubilizers in future studies.